Better Mood

Hi! Feeling much happier today. No more pregnant lady rants, I promise.

So I had to take Toddler with me to a meeting today about learning my new job as bookkeeper for local writers organization. He was SO good. I couldn't believe it. We were there two hours, and the woman I was meeting with was in and out, but Toddler sat at his own desk and did a Dora watercolor book, a truck sticker book, drank a juice, had Valentine gummy candy, watched a long, long train go by out the window, took my pens and wouldn't let me use them, told the woman I was meeting with that he was "getting a lot of work done," never tried to leave the room, and never cried. And, as an added little bonus for me, he didn't poop. It would have been really embarrassing to have to interrupt the board meeting going on in the main room (we were in a little adjacent office) by leaving with a fussy, stinky Toddler and then coming back in. And then, And then! he went to bed so nicely tonight. And I was going to go to bed at 9:00, but then I watched What Not To Wear, and then I was going to go to bed at 10, but then I sat down here and started catching up on blogs a little bit, and now it's 10:45 and here I am. So with that, Que Tengas Buenas Noches!

Falling Down?

You know that movie with Michael Douglas where he has the crew cut and glasses and he's really mad and wants to shoot everyone? That's how I feel. Is "Falling Down" right? I'm going to attribute it to being hugely pregnant (baby will be born first week in March), feeling waddly and huge and like I can barely walk, yet having to trek up and down the stairs all day and drag Toddler to change his diaper and schlep the laundry baskets, etc. I know people have issues with the "pregnant woman" parking spaces (I've only ever seen and used one) but when you're nine months along, I say SCREW EVERYONE NOT PREGNANT AND LET ME PARK CLOSE!! I really probably wouldn't use those spaces if I were less than seven months pregnant, but when you feel like your bladder is going to fall out when you walk and a HUGE creature is squirming around in there and all your lower ligaments are stretched beyond capacity (capability?), walking far with grocery bags is hard.

Also, last Saturday I had this horrific gastro-intestinal bug (you know, violent vomiting, etc. need I say more?) all night and into the next day. I ended up being admitted to the hospital all day Sunday for the abdominal pains from this bug, deydration, and subsequent contractions caused by the dehydration. I was on bedrest when I got home. But when I get home, my mom, who has stayed with Toddler all day tells me, "Your house is not cozy; it's crappy. It's so messy and too small and you need to move." Really? Is this not ALL everyone's been talking about for the past year? Yes, we know we've outgrown our house but does she realize we just converted a guest room/storage room to a nursery? Everything that was in that room and closet has not been dealt with yet! Plus we got a new TV armoire for downstairs and so moved the old one upstairs and had to rearrange our room a little bit, and yes, stuff has surfaced that I haven't dealt with yet!

OK, I shall not continue in this vein. It's too negative and naptime is almost over. First time in three days that there even is a naptime. Oh, right, I was done.

P.S. Finished Le Guin's The Other Wind which means I have now read all six Earthsea books. Man, did I love those. I thought about and thumbed through The Handmaid's Tale but decided not read it while pregnant. I'm too on edge and sensitive these days. (At the Little Gym today, all the two-year-olds had to line up on the white line on this thing called the Air Track that gets blown up and then they can jump on it. They all were just sitting there in a row, legs straight out in front of them, wide eyes, kind of nervous and expectant as to when the thing would start filling up, and I got tears in my eyes just looking at them. I also almost cried during the Teletubbies yesterday, if that says anything about my state of mind.) So I started John McPhee's Annals of the Former World, a geology and natural history book I've been wanting to read for a while. I figure I'm pretty safe from crying and freaking out over rocks.

A Short Dispatch from Among the Pillows

I can't believe I haven't posted since Jan. 17. I also haven't read any blogs since then and just spent the better part of two hours catching up, and I still have a long way to go until I get all the bolds off my Bloglines list.

I'm dispatching my first post from bed today. We bought each other a laptop for Christmas but haven't had a wireless router until this weekend. Now we do and it's working perfectly. Unfortunately, naptime is almost over so this may be a short-lived moment.

I'm still heavy into Ursula Le Guin and reading Tales from Earthsea right now soon to be followed by the last Earthsea novel, The Other Wind. Then I guess I'll just have to pack my bags and go somewhere else, having stayed in Earthsea for a very long, but pleasurable, time. Tales from Earthsea is a book of short stories set in Earthsea, though not necessarily about the characters familiar from the first four novels. Some are stories predating these characters, going into the far history of Earthsea, and some are more recent and kind of bring you up to speed on how some of the characters came to be or fill you in on adventures they've had that were never mentioned in the other novels. And the last story in the collection, the one I just started today, is a link between the two last Earthsea novels. So it pays to read in order. Not that I would read a series any other way.

Toddler is up, laptop must go down.
34 weeks pregnant and counting.
The End for now.

Catalog

Gratified: This is the forecast from my local news's website.

A modified arctic air mass will cover the region through Thursday, with highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s. Although certainly nothing unusual for January, the contrast from recent warmth is noticeable. Friday into the weekend will bring much warmer temperatures. Rain will also be possible at times this weekend, followed by more cold air arriving early next week.

It's very chilly and gray right now and I love it.
(Plus, I won't feel bad about not taking Toddler out to play after he wakes up because it might rain soon and then I can continue cleaning the clutter mess we have. The reason for the clutter mess is that we painted the new baby's room, are in the middle of painting the stairs and the upstairs hallway, and will soon paint the upstairs bathroom. So there's paint clutter but also we had to clean out new baby's closet and that is resulting in having to clean out everybody else's closet to make room for the random stuff that was in her closet, i.e., metal detector, ice cream machine, Christmas wrapping stuff, an Easy Bake Oven in the box, boxes of files with old bills and paystubs, piles of Cooking Lights and Martha Stewart Livings and Bon Appetits and Gourmets from my mom when she moved.)

Baffled: Upon returning from food shopping today, the only thing I can't find is my new box of Cream of Wheat. Where is it? I guess that's the one thing they forgot to bag. I really do love my Cream of Wheat.

Addicted: While at said food store, I made an impulse buy and grabbed a box of Keebler Danish Wedding Cookies from one of those displays in the middle of the aisle. The box reminds me of 70s or 80s packaging--it's just a plain pink box with the Keebler tree and a picture of a platter of the cookies. I wasn't going to open them, but I did. And they're not that amazing, but I could not stop eating them. I guess it's the subtle coconut and the fact that, when dipped in coffee, they take on the texture that homemade ones have, and are reminiscent of a macaroon and biscotti offspring. Plus the crack that Keebler probably puts in them. If so, they really should put a warning on the box for pregnant women.

Craving: White Chocolate, brownies, yellow butter cake with mocha icing, Keebler Danish Wedding cookies. I have not eaten any of the above except, of course, the cookies. Well, I have been eating white chocolate in the form of red-and-green-swirled Christmas white chocolate chips from the bag, but that hasn't been since yesterday.

Guilty: I think I just committed a federal offense and the internet is probably not the place to discuss it, BUT... I had these bills that I really wanted to get in the mail today. We bought stamps today (after bringing all the groceries to the car, changing a poop diaper in the tailgate, and then realizing we had to run back in for stamps) and then, after I put Toddler down for his nap, I was happily checking Bloglines when I saw the mail truck come down the street, put my mail in the box, and drive on. So I ran out to the car, got the bills, stamped them, ran across the street to the neighbor's mailbox, put my bills in, and put up their flag. I KNOW one is never to use another's mailbox. I'm sorry USPS. I have been known to stand out there and wait on their curb until the mailman comes back on their side of the street, but it was chilly out and my stomach is bigger than any Santa's I've seen this season. (I know, pregancy is an excuse for nothing. There is a whole blog that went into an in-depth diatribe about how pregnant women should not be given special parking places in parking lots. And while yes, I do agree that pregnancy is certainly natural and not a handicap, you sure are lugging a lot of weight in the front that pulls and tugs at ligaments and muscles you didn't even know you had and walking far distances is not always the most comfortable of activities.)

Industrious: I started my new job with the writer's group I mentioned awhile ago. I just did a tiny task for them so far but we're meeting next week and yay! I'm a little tiny bit of the work force again! With a paycheck!

Big and Round

That about describes me at the moment.

I'm never more worried about weight than I am when I'm pregnant. Last pregnancy I would try to eat really healthily the last few days before a doctor's appointment and then wear really light clothes to the appointment so I'd seem lighter. I just really dread the weight lecture. This time I have a new doctor and she's wonderful and so far hasn't said anything about my huge weight gain (about 25 lbs. in 4 months). But I know she will this time. I do think a lot of it is water retention. I don't think I'm drinking enough so I'm going to up my water intake today. I go to the doctor Monday and I really don't want to see that I've gained another 8 lbs. or whatever. I'm going to need my three exercise gurus, Funky, Betty, and Shan, to give me some inspiration in April when I'm over my C-section and ready to lose all this weight. Although last time I just didn't want to eat and my mom had to force me to eat soup and pear nectar (of all things). I lost weight really fast after my last pregnancy. But I also had an emergency C-section and resulting complications so my recovery wasn't very smooth.

So Here's the Story

Early summer, I became stricken with morning sickness. But it was late evening/early night sickness as I'm apparently prone to that type. And then suddenly reading blogs, writing my blog, and even reading books were making me nauseous. (I did manage to read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger but when I saw it in the used bookstore the other day, post post morning sickness, it still gave me that icky feeling, even though I liked the book itself. Last time it was Bounce dryer sheets and snow outside that made me feel icky long after morning sickness. I've even heard of a woman who couldn't look at the color green even after her kids were teenagers.) So I started turning into my husband: drinking lots of orange juice, lying on the couch watching movies I've seen a million times like Top Gun and The Fugitive, craving Arby's roast beef sandwiches, and reading nothing more weighty than Oprah magazine. And so, among other reasons, I quit my blog. But now, yes, I'm about 20 weeks pregnant and feeling like myself again. I love the journal-ishness of blogging so I'm back. I hope my old friends will have me.